Newport News, VA Short-Term Rentals: Occupancy Limits (2026)

' The rule applies to every short-term rental in the city, meaning a lodging house or dwelling unit rented for fewer than 30 consecutive days for a fee, as defined at § 45-201. A four-bedroom house could in theory sleep eight under the per-bedroom ratio, but the flat six-lodger ceiling controls once it is lower than the per-bedroom total. The occupancy cap sits alongside a set of parallel physical standards in the same subsection: any bedroom used for lodging must have a closet, a window and a door separating it from the rest of the unit under (b)(5), and the unit must have working fire extinguishers, smoke detectors, carbon monoxide detectors and a posted exit plan inside each lodging bedroom door under (b)(4).

1(c), which requires a floor plan identifying the location and number of bedrooms in the dwelling, among other proof. 1(b)(13), the mechanism the city uses to check compliance with the six-lodger cap.